The QR Quest

 After an uneventful drive, TSH and Diva arrived at the all-day pub which Diva had carefully selected for refreshments on arrival in Southampton. They now know that ‘all-day food’ is a relative term. They were ‘greeted’ at 11:05 with the news that breakfast was long finished and lunch would not start until 11:30. They were not even allowed to order any food until that time.

Embarkation procedures shore-side took just over an hour – much longer than usual but very well organised. They passed quickly through the first few stages of documentation checks despite TSH’s Big Mistake.

They both passed their Covid test, which was much less brutal than the kind which their local pharmacist supplied. The Northern test involves mirrors, torches, tonsils and many nasal centimetres. This one was a series of gentle swirls just inside the nose. Diva was relieved and impressed.

The Silversea check-in also took place in the terminal building. A woman was heard to say ‘can I go up to my suite on Deck 5 now?' The attendant gently reminded her that she would need to board the ship first.

Within minutes of boarding, TSH and Diva were greeted as old friends by waiters, a restaurant manager, the Commodore of the fleet (Captain Arma, who took them round South America) and, most importantly, the Head Sommelier. The latter invited them to a day-time wine tasting tomorrow but this does not sound like a healthy option.

The Big Mistake?  TSH does not trust his smartphone or his own ability to use it in a hurry. So all the documentation, including the NHS QR codes confirming double vaccination for both, was printed out. And just for extra assurance he had 2 copies of much of it – 1 in his zipped pockets and 1 in the suitcases. He offered 2 sheets of QR codes to the medical documentation desk, who were trained well enough to spot that both applied to him and there was not one for Diva. The suitcases with Diva’s QRs were by now deep into the luggage system and totally unavailable. He offered the NHS vaccination record cards instead but these are not acceptable as proof. A frantic search through both phones followed and Diva was extremely relieved when she tracked down her QR code. So was TSH – he knew he would not be embarking alone.

TSH’s defence: he sent an electronic link of both NHS QR codes to Diva to cover any subsequent problems. He did not expect the problems to be self-created.